Battlefield 3 Boycott

I'm sure most of you have heard of the recent movement that started on Reddit to boycott Battlefield 3. I thought I would take a couple moments to talk about my feelings on it. Here's what's going on, and why people are doing this. EA has decided to take out a couple weapons and gun accessories out of the game, as well as a couple maps, in order to get people to buy the game new. Not to mention if you buy it used, I guarantee they will charge you to play online. There's an item that reduces the muzzle flash on a sniper rifle, and DICE has said that you cannot be an effective recon sniper without it. Also, the LMG looks pretty important along with a shotgun and special shotgun rounds. EA has released a bogus FAQ on the matter. I say bogus because it doesn't answer any of the issues and proves they are incompetent fools. Boycott FAQ.


I completely agree with this boycott. For several reasons, one being that I am sick of these "Pre-order exclusive DLC" offers. I can understand publishers trying to give incentive for buying the game new, but why should I be punished if I don't buy it new? Why should I have to be at a disadvantage in the game simply because I don't/can't pre-order the game? Also, why can't I choose where I can buy the game? Honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of Gamestop. Nobody that works there knows a damn thing about video games, and most of the time everything is over priced. Not to mention they also love to give you about 5 bucks for a game that came out maybe a month earlier? Yeah... They have shady practices, and horrible customer service most of the time. Luckily, I have a Gamestop that is filled (mostly) with people that know what they are doing. So usually I don't mind going there to get a used game now and then.

Here's the deal. We are gamers, we are proud gamers, we enjoy playing games, and we enjoy games for several reasons. First being that they are a very cheap form of long lasting entertainment. I spent $60 on TES: Oblivion when it first came out. I also spent almost 300+ hours on that game. Same goes for Fallout, Forza 1-2-3, and many others. That's a great value if you ask me. Secondly, they offer escape from reality. A sanctuary for the mind, a place to relieve stress and forget about your problems. They also offer a sense of accomplishment, they offer a chance to learn! Video games are something special as we all know. So then I ask this: Why do we let the publishers of our favorite games walk all over us and nickel and dime us left and right? Why do we let them make us choose where to buy the game, or how much content we want in the game based on how much we pay for it? Why do we let them take bits of the original game off and charge us extra to have them? Do you remember when games were 50 bucks new and 20 bucks used a month later? When these games were always full of content? When DLC was actually an add-on to the game and not just more of what should have been in the game to begin with?

It's time for us Gamers to actually stand up for once and let these corporate asshats know what we really want. In a mature and civil way of course, because this is real life, not a video game. I'll be taking part in this boycott not because I think Battlefield 3 will be a bad game, but because I believe in standing up for what you think is right (this is America after all...). If you're at all a sensible proud gamer, you need to get over the fact that BF3 will probably be a fun game. You need to wake up, and tell EA that they need to fix this. Don't let them walk all over you. Think about people in countries with no Gamestop or Gamestop affiliated companies. They can't have this "expansion" because they can't get it from anywhere but Amazon. How is that fair? It's not. So as a proud member of the gaming community, let EA know they need to fix their ways.